Legere appointed as new T-Mobile CEO

Deutsche Telekom on Wednesday announced that it has appointed John Legere as the new CEO of its T-Mobile USA business unit.

Legere’s appointment will take effect Sept. 22. He succeeds Jim Alling, who has served as interim CEO since Philipp Humm abruptly left his post as CEO of T-Mobile.

Legere, 54, is the former CEO of Global Crossing, where he helped turn that company into a provider of IP services. Legere also served as senior vice president at Dell, where he was president of the company’s operations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.

Humm, who officially resigned back in June, has since accepted a position as the chief executive of Vodafone's new Northern and Central Europe region. Legere will take up where Humm left off, spearheading T-Mobile’s major rebranding effort, as well as $4 billion network evolution project, which includes the start of an LTE rollout in early 2013.

René Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, heralded Legere’s three decades in the telecom industry as proof of his ability to head T-Mobile USA.

“As T-Mobile moves forward with its strategic initiatives to improve its market position, including expanding its network coverage and initiating LTE service, Legere has obviously the right skill set to lead the business into the future,” Obermann said.